Our safari week in Sabi Sands and Chobe plus Vic Falls

ElainePDX

Level 2 Member
Here is a copy of an email to family and friends that I thought folks here would enjoy. I do have a few earlier ones which I will post when I have more time. Enjoy!

Feb. 12, 2016

It has been a week since I last had any time to keep a trip journal. During that time, we spent 3 nights at Arathusa Lodge in Sabi Sands in South Africa; a night in Zambia where we saw Victoria Falls on the Zam side; a morning in Zimbabwe where we toured the falls from the Zim side and then met our overland transfer driver to Botswana; and finally 3 nights at Muchenje Lodge near the Chobe National Park in Botswana. Game drive days are long and quite action packed, and I used the little free time we had to go through my photos, immediately deleting the ones not worth keeping, and then posting some good ones on Twitter. (If you want to see them, my Twitter account is ElainePDX and I would welcome your feedback.) All were taken with my iPhone 6s. Bob did take photos with his iPhone as well as his new camera but I expect we won't do much with those until we are home, or I decide to connect him to my Twitter account. My phone couldn't zoom as well as his camera but I still got some extraordinary shots and videos.

There is so much to say and since I can't say it all, I will depart from my usual chronological approach and go straight to the highlights that standout as I think back over the past days, while I wait in the departure gate to board a flight to JNB where we will connect to our next destination, which is Cape Town.

While some people go on safari eager to see the Big Five - I've named them in a previous journal but here's a reminder: they are the lion, elephant, rhino, cape buffalo and leopard - and others are eager to see birds, what topped my list were elephants and giraffes. We saw the Big Five in Sabi within the first two days. We saw lots of elephants there, but only had a few giraffe sitings until we reached Chobe.

Chobe and Sabi Sands are quite different experiences. Sabi is a private game reserve that borders Kruger National Park. The animals can roam between Kruger lands and those of the Sabi lodges. The ranger/guides are allowed to go off road in the private reserve areas to which they have access, and they do so with great relish, sometimes driving right over bushes and small trees or bouncing up and down fairly steep ravines to get to the ideal places to see or be close to the animals. Chobe is a national park and, like at Kruger, it is required to stay on the paths and in your vehicle, except for a carefully marked "stretching spot." So while in Sabi we got up close and personal and could observe animals from quite close a range, we less routinely got that close to the animals in Chobe.

But Chobe has huge herds, so rather than seeing a dozen or so elephants eating their way through the bush or a giraffe or two crossing the road or galloping away, we literally saw hundreds and hundreds of elephants and many tens of giraffes, alone or in a group (which is called, quite appropriately, a tower of giraffes). We saw lots of impalas in both places; ditto for buffalo, but the herds in Chobe routinely number in the hundreds and can for cape buffalo number in the thousands. In Sabi the elephants came often to the watering hole right in front of the lodge, perhaps 10-20 at a time, and we saw them drink for perhaps 20-30 minutes before they lumbered back to the bush. There they nosed - hmm, perhaps I should say "trunked" - around our 4 x 4, so close we could have reached out and touched them. I thought we had seen a lot of elephants in Sabi, but if you want to really see elephants, go to Chobe. In Chobe elephants seem to be just everywhere. Indeed, our guide said the park has 129,000 elephants and there are serious issues and concerns because the population is way above the number of elephants that the land area of the park can successfully support.

But it was a Sabi encounter with a memory of elephants (memory is the collective noun and this memory was a small breeding herd of female elephants) that truly stands out for me. On our first early morning game drive, we came upon some mamas and babies moving through, having their breakfast of tree and bush branches and leaves. As they began to come quite close to us, the guide whispered that we were to keep quiet, remain seated, and not move. An alert and vigilant mama came towards us to see if we meant any danger. As we sat quietly in the 4 x 4, she determined we were not a threat to her or more importantly her little one, and she went back to eating. Immediately her curious baby followed mama's lead, also coming quite close to see us too. It was truly a magical time; one of the others with us said it seemed not just magical but spiritual to her.

In both places, we were able to watch elephants wandering through the bush as they ate and rubbing up against trees as they scratched. We saw young adolescent males play-fighting under trees as they tested their mettle. But it was only in Chobe that we watched them from the vantage point of a boat while they frolicked in the Chobe River during our lazy morning boat ride. Using both binoculars and the naked eye, we spent a long time taking photos and enjoying their playful behaviors as they jostled each other and dunked under the water completely to cool off. Elephant antics are just amazing to see, even if you need the binoculars to get up close and personal. We could also see them well with the naked eye and we could have watched them on the river all day, although to be fair, the elephants don't stay that long. Once they cool off and had a good drink and a fun swim, they head back up into the bush, to eat and hang out under trees.

And after barely seeing giraffes in Sabi - none on the first few game drives at all - we finally saw two giraffes scampering away when our spotter caught them in the light he shines once it is dark. We had another siting as they crossed the road on which we were traveling on our final Sabi day. In Chobe we had many giraffe sitings, including baby giraffes and two pregnant females. Giraffes turned out to be less less interesting to me to watch than elephants, who really seem to have personalities and whose behavior in the family unit is really fun to see and learn about.

For example, in Chobe we saw a baby elephant that was slowly limping along on only three legs, holding the fourth up in the air so it never touched the ground. The Mama, who would be ordinarily protective of a baby, was doing the elephant version of a helicopter mom, roaring at us and making sure that she was always between our vehicle and her injured baby, who was being shepherded along by another female in the herd which was completely composed of female elephants and their young'uns. Even when Baby finally crossed in front of us and was on her way in the opposite direction, out of our range of vision, Mama came back for a final roar and show of strength to make sure we knew the score. Other elephants that were close by echoed her roar, a show of support for her and extra warning for us. I am not sure I'd rank the experience above the magical time we had with the elephants surrounding our vehicle in Sabi but it is something I won't forget, even though I don't have any really good photos to help me remember.

But don't discount the giraffes because they really are unusual. Their movements reminded me of the smaller dinosaurs I saw in Jurassic Park as well as the camels I saw in the Middle East. When they move they step out with both front and back legs, swaying their necks to the opposite side to maintain their balance. In order to get their long necks down to drink from a water source, they need to spread their front legs so they are splayed out the each side. Their eyelashes are a treat to see and they made us laugh when we suddenly saw them peek up from behind a tall bush Still, the social behavior of the elephants was much more interesting and entertaining to watch. The giraffes don't engage with humans in the way the elephants do. These enormous creatures have become my clear favorite.

It may sound like I have a preference for Chobe, but that is not the case. Sabi had many strengths too. In Chobe, we never saw a lion or leopard. In Sabi we saw lions on nearly every game drive, and we saw a leopard in a tree, where he had hoisted a recent kill that would be his meals for a few days, as well as the same leopardess twice. We saw 6 black rhinos, quite a record of sorts, since the rhino population has been decreasing significantly due to poaching. I did not expect to see even one.

The poaching is so serious that our guide said that if he came across a poacher he would shoot to kill him, and the authorities would support his decision. That said, he only carried a weapon (a rifle ) during a morning bush walk; he carried nothing in the 4 x 4. Yup, we were within a few feet many no nonsense predators without anything to point at them except a camera, an iPhone or a tube of suncreen. I never felt threatened, and the guide did ask us if we were ok with getting close before he drove up, since sometimes people are afraid and prefer to stay a bit away. Luckily, we were, so to speak, game, as were the other four people in our vehicle.

Between the two locations, besides the Big Five we saw so many mammals, reptiles and birds; truly too many to name from memory, but I'll mention a few: impala, many varieties of antelope including the somewhat rare sable antelope, hippos, crocs, wildebeests, mongoose, monkeys, baboons, kudo, red lechwe, waterbuck, warthog, jackal, zebras, hyaenas, tortoise, chameleon, guinea hen, and many more. I am not a birder because my vision is so poor, but those with us who were were quite pleased with the birds we did see, and in Chobe Bob used a checklist to try to keep track.

In Sabi we had both a spotter and a ranger/guide/driver. One of our companions on the first few game drives suffered from serious headaches and she had heard that smoking dried elephant dung can help. After she tried it - our spotter found an appropriately dry turd which he held and lit for her - I figured "why not?!" and tried it too. Not having a headache, I can't report on the efficacy but it did give me a momentary jolt!

While I could write at length about the game drives, the schedule you follow each day, the lodges themselves (we liked Muchenje significantly more than Arathusa) and the other people we met, let me move on to Victoria Falls. I'll admit I have bragged to my non-Oregonian friends about Multnomah Falls. No more. These falls are rightfully among the seven wonders of the world. Everyone says that the Zim side is more spectacular; that you'll be impressed by the Zam side only until you see Zim, but I think I liked the Zam side better. We saw the falls at what I think was a perfect time. They were not running full force, but when they do, all you see is mist. The falls will keep filling up for another month or two so we were lucky enough to see them full of water but not with so much that you can't see through the mist. I thought the Zam side offered a much more pleasant walk from viewpoint to viewpoint. Now we only saw the Zim side by strolling along. I believe if you take a helicopter tour or boat ride the falls may appear even more majestic and impressive, but I was quite content with what we saw. We even saw someone bungee jump off the bridge that spans from Zim to Zam!

We were extremely lucky with the weather. We knew were we coming in the wet season, and that game viewing is better when it is drier. But due to a serious drought in Sabi, the long grasses that can hide animals never grew and the conditions we had were much more like the dry season. Chobe isn't actually experiencing a drought but rainfall has been much sparser than usual, so again, we saw sitings that are much more like what one would see in the winter. In fact, I still haven't worn my rain jacket. We did have a bit of rain on the way home from one Chobe drive and a thunderstorm this morning, but nothing significant. The herd of zebras we saw yesterday in a section of Chobe typically migrates to another part of the park, and it is usually quite hard to see zebras where we were at this time of year, but our guide doubted they'd ever go this year due to the conditions.

One of the options at Muchenje was a visit to the local village and the primary school there. Of course we went and it was fun and eye opening. The kids attending Mabele Primary School were extremely well behaved and respectful of all adults. Because HIV positive kids do attend school with the others, posters addressing HIV issues adorn the walls along with inspirational sayings, mission statements and goals for the year. We visited four classrooms in which kids were working toward Standards 3, 4, 6 and 7. Even the young ones, who were about 8 and were working on the multiplication of 15 x 2 when we interrupted them, spoke English as well as their native tribal language. They begin English in kindergarten. The kids are dismissed at 1pm and when they return home, they help by doing the dishes, taking care of younger kids, feeding domestic animals, working in the fields and vegetable gardens, and the like. The teachers live in houses right behind the school. Efforts are often made to locate the school near the tribal administrative offices. School attendance through middle school is compulsory and free; those too poor to afford books and uniforms get help from the government.

We saw the local medical clinic and the office of the area's tribal chief, a position that is still passed from father to son. Our guide said that race relations in Botswana have always been good. The last king of the entire country was educated in the west and he brought back a white wife, who was well loved. He was later the first democratically elected president and his son, whose photo was prominently displayed above the reception desk at Muchenje, is now president. Botswana was never colonized which helps explain why it is so different from the countries that surround it.

Compared to South Africa, Botswana is a much more progressive country. Compared to some of the other countries that border it like Namibia, it is much more environmentally conscious. The animals that roam free and are carefully protected from poachers in Botswana are fair game for poaching should they cross into Namibia since that section of Namibia is not a national park. And we were within a stone's throw - in some cases just a few meter's away - from Namibia both on the river and during parts of our land game drives. Luckily, the river is a good boundary, since the crocs in it keep most wildlife from trying to swim across unless they have no alternative, like when the island in the middle floods and they need to get to one side of the river or the other. Not everyone makes it since the crocs are out in force waiting for a meal. Indeed, we were warned not to put hands or feet in the river unless we wanted to share the fate of Captain Hook!

Other impressions and descriptions: When we landed in the small airport of Hoedspruit en route to Sabi, we were amused to see that the baggage claim was the back of a pickup truck that drove the checked luggage the short distance from where the plane came to a stop and where the drivers waited to transfer people to their lodges.

I was very impressed with the employees of SA Airlink. When we arrived at the Nelspruit airport en route to Botswana, Bob could not locate his passport. The Airlink staff really helped us, inviting us into their back office to make a thorough search of our carryon bags and his pockets. They made many phone calls on our behalf - did he leave it in the transfer van, or the school where we stopped to use the washroom, or did it fall out of his pocket someplace between getting out of the van and getting to the check-in counter...? He was certain it has been in his pocket, but at the suggestion of the lead person, we finally did a Hail Mary search of his suitcase, and there it was, in a bag with camera equipment. Don't ask. After I hugged her, she wisely suggested I hug him! You can be sure I will write a letter of praise on our return.

Then today the Airlink manager in Kasane fixed a problem that had us showing as standby on our connecting flight, a mistake for sure. No clue why or what magic he worked, but we are now in JNB awaiting our flight to CPT, boarding passes in hand. Although they did carefully weigh our rollerboards when we checked them, they never weighed our smaller carryons, which they supposedly do religiously, often at more than one place, like the check in counter and the gate as well. We also found the SAA and Airlink planes - so far we've been on 4 - much more comfortable in economy than what we typically find with US airlines.

Feb. 13

I've just reread what I wrote yesterday, from the poolside of the quite lovely Radisson Blu Le Vendome hotel where we had our comped breakfast, and this seems a good place to stop. Bob is busily planning our time in Cape Town and we really should begin our day. So I'll just close by saying that while the Rad at the Waterfront is the hotel of choice for many of my travel-hacking friends, and we'll spend our final two CPT nights there, this hotel blends the feel of a boutique hotel with the typical Rad hotel experience, and it will be a fine place for our next few nights.

Bye for now and if you read this far, I hope you enjoyed it!
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
Argh. I'll have to log onto twitter to see now :). I have an account, but never seem to find a use for it. Perhaps I have now. I'm off to look!

@ElainePDX - Thanks for a lengthy and inspiring post on this area. I have my own trip planned for 2017 (now moved to September) with many of these same placed on my list. Got tons of feedback from the Award Booking area (mostly about flight logistics, but some other stuff, too), but detailed, first-hand reports are always extremely helpful. Thanks again!

Update: YES! Now I see value in twitter. Excellent pics! Way too cool!!
 
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knick1959

Level 2 Member
Everyone says that the Zim side is more spectacular; that you'll be impressed by the Zam side only until you see Zim, but I think I liked the Zam side better.
Ok, my first question is actually answered before asked: You liked the Zambia side better. But you saw both sides! How difficult was it to do this? Specifically, if someone was to plan a trip to the falls, and picked the Zambia side, is it a simple 1 hour cab ride to see the Zimbabwe side, or is there an intense border crossing and hours of logistics involved? Is it worth (or can it even be) an hour or two's visit to get the other side's perspective?
 

ElainePDX

Level 2 Member
It is not that complicated but as we are still traveling I don't have the luxury to go into details as my time is tight. If no one answers by the time we are back in the states (early March) I can help more. But we did not go back and forth (Zam to Zim back to Zam) as we went from Zam to Zim to Botswana. Definitely not hours of logistics but I don't know how the visa for Zam would work; you'd either need to pay twice or get a double entry visa if that exists. I never looked into it since my itinerary was different than what you suggest.
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
It is not that complicated but as we are still traveling I don't have the luxury to go into details as my time is tight. If no one answers by the time we are back in the states (early March) I can help more. But we did not go back and forth (Zam to Zim back to Zam) as we went from Zam to Zim to Botswana. Definitely not hours of logistics but I don't know how the visa for Zam would work; you'd either need to pay twice or get a double entry visa if that exists. I never looked into it since my itinerary was different than what you suggest.
Thanks, there is no hurry, and in fact, maybe I need to figure out my own plan before pressing this. I mean, I would love to see both sides, but only 1 is really a "must do". My tentative plan is (starting for SA) to get to the falls, then catch a short (single day or 1-2 day) trip to Chobe, then back to SA.
 

cavil

Level 2 Member
Ok, my first question is actually answered before asked: You liked the Zambia side better. But you saw both sides! How difficult was it to do this? Specifically, if someone was to plan a trip to the falls, and picked the Zambia side, is it a simple 1 hour cab ride to see the Zimbabwe side, or is there an intense border crossing and hours of logistics involved? Is it worth (or can it even be) an hour or two's visit to get the other side's perspective?
Both sides are worth seeing in a similar way to the different experiences at Niagara Falls. On the Canadian side you can get the full on view of Horseshoe Falls, whereas on the US side you can sit at waters edge a a few yards upstream from the lip of the falls. The Zimbabwean side looks across the gorge at the face of the falls. The Zambian side offers a chance to frolic in the Zambezi above the falls.

The border crossing isn't bad. We flew into Livingstone and had arranged transportation to the Victoria Falls Hotel on the Zimbabwe side. The first van dropped us at the border bridge, we went through immigration (bring cash, US$) and carried our luggage a short distance to another van on the Zimbabwe side. A multiple entry visa for Zambia is $80 and for Zimbabwe is $55. Then you could go back and forth as often as you wished.

I highly recommend a visit to the Victoria Falls Hotel. It is a beautiful old colonial hotel that is a short walk from the falls. You can have afternoon tea on the veranda and watch the spray from the falls and the groups of roaming warthogs keeping the property's lawn closely cropped. If you stay there keep your windows closed---the baboons love to climb in and ransack people's luggage. It's a magical place.
 

cavil

Level 2 Member
... tens of giraffes, alone or in a group (which is called, quite appropriately, a tower of giraffes)...
Our guide in Hwange NP Zimbabwe was great with the collective nouns too! I love memory of elephants and congress of baboons. For giraffe there are two: if standing in a group it is a tower of giraffes, if they are moving it is a journey of giraffes.

Thanks Elaine for an awesome report. It brought back so many memories. I need to go back before my vaccinations run out! Wife and I spent $1000 each on vaccinations for our Africa trip 2 years ago. Another expense for people to consider. Suppose I could have used 200k URs for that;)
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
Wife and I spent $1000 each on vaccinations for our Africa trip 2 years ago. Another expense for people to consider. Suppose I could have used 200k URs for that;)
Ok, please expound! We tackled a couple for Peru and Ecuador but skipped the Yellow Fever vaccine. I'm assuming that is required? What else. We had Typhoid and Hep-A vaccines, I think.
 

cavil

Level 2 Member
Ok, please expound! We tackled a couple for Peru and Ecuador but skipped the Yellow Fever vaccine. I'm assuming that is required? What else. We had Typhoid and Hep-A vaccines, I think.
We probably paid a premium for a couple of reasons. First my wife works in healthcare and heavily leans towards over-protection. Wherever we board a flight she swabs down the seat-belts, armrests, tray tables etc. You could perform surgery there. Secondly we went to a specific travel clinic that probably prepares you for all eventualities and makes you pay accordingly.

We ended up getting Hep-A, Hep-B, influenza, polio-IPV, Tdap, tetanus/diphtheria, typhoid, yellow fever. Yellow fever was essential for admission back into South Africa. And we also took malarone for malaria. We actually declined two others, J.Enceph-Ixiaro, due to extremely low risk, and rabies (will you be handling any animals in Africa? No!) Was this overkill on our part? Probably so, but I think budgeting at least ~$500 per person is not unreasonable.

We made sure to carry our immunization cards and did need to show them at the airport in Livingstone, Zambia when checking in for our flight to JNB.
 

ElainePDX

Level 2 Member
No longer necessary to have yellow fever to get back into ZA. The law changed a few months ago. We reentered after Zam, Zim and Botswana without it just fine on Friday.

I also wipe down everything on planes. We got the Hep shots and typhoid and took malaria pills but with the drought there were no mosquitos. I finished my pills, Bob did not. We also did not sleep under the netting.

Gotta go. CPT calls! And we are being upgraded to a junior suite :) so need to toss things in suitcases too. Worth it for four more nights!
 

Panache

Level 2 Member
Great pictures! Never got to see rhino in Kruger last year. We ran into lions on our way out but we were racing against the gate closing time and only managed a quick photo.
 
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